Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle sells shopping plaza in Camillus

Dennis Nett / The Post-StandardAnn Marie Buerkle shakes the hand of Steve Infanti of Onondaga Hill after a press conference in November 2010, when the election against former Rep. Dan Maffei was still undecided pending a count of absentee ballots. Maffei had criticized Buerkle over taxes she owed on a Camillus shopping plaza. Dennis Nett/The Post-Standard

Washington -- U.S. Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle has sold a Camillus shopping center that was the source of a campaign dispute with former Rep. Dan Maffei over delinquent taxes.

Buerkle sold Kasson Road Plaza and two adjacent parcels along West Genesee Street on Nov. 22 for $1.96 million, according to property records. The records show the land was assessed at $1.82 million.

The buyer is 42nd Associates 5407/100 LLC, a corporation with the same address as Buerkle’s property manager, Todd Oudemool, of Olympus Leasing Management Development.

Buerkle, R-Onondaga Hill, referred questions about the buyer to Oudemool, who declined to identify the owner of 42nd Associates, saying the investor wants to remain anonymous.

Oudemool said only that the individual is a real estate investor based in Central New York who retained his Camillus firm to continue managing Kasson Road Plaza and adjacent land leased to a Friendly’s restaurant on West Genesee Street.

As part of the property transfer, any past-due property taxes were paid off, Oudemool said.

The five-store strip shopping center became a campaign issue last year with Maffei, a DeWitt Democrat who eventually lost the election by 648 votes.

Maffei charged in the final weeks of the campaign that Buerkle was a tax deadbeat who owed about $30,000 in county taxes on the property.

Buerkle said she set up a 12-month tax installment plan as a favor to her tenants, who had the responsibility to pay the tax bills as a condition of their leases. She said some tenants had fallen behind in their payments because of the poor economy.

In a separate issue related to the shopping center, the state filed a tax warrant against Buerkle on Dec. 3, 2010, claiming she owed $7,036 in back taxes. The warrant was related to a dispute Buerkle won against the Internal Revenue Service over a former tenant’s mistake in reporting how it paid rent. The state now says its tax warrant has been satisfied.

Buerkle, asked why she decided to sell the properties, said they required too much of her time. She said the sale had been in the works for months, predating her election to Congress.

“We’ve been working on a deal for many, many months,” Buerkle said.

She said the proceeds from the sale will not be used to pay campaign debts, but she declined to discuss her plans for the money.

Oudemool said there is no relationship, either through family or politics, between Buerkle and the owner of 42nd Associates.

“Her determination was to invest all of her efforts into the representation of the district,” Oudemool said of the sale. “This sale just continues her efficacy in representing her constituents in Washington.”

Buerkle originally co-owned the 219,000-square-foot commercial property with her ex-husband, Dr. August Buerkle.

Property records show full ownership was transferred to Ann Marie Buerkle for $1 on Feb. 3, 2000.

In 1989, the Buerkles sold a 10-foot-wide strip of the property along West Genesee Street to Onondaga County for $31,760. The county took the land in front of the Friendly’s restaurant as part of the widening of West Genesee Street.

The Onondaga County Legislature approved the payment over the objections of some lawmakers, who suggested the county paid an inflated price because of Ann Marie Buerkle’s political connections.

The lawyer for the Buerkles and a county transportation official said the price was fair.